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Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Essential Eight

Rules and Groups employed by this XCCDF Profile

  • System Settings

    Contains rules that check correct system settings.
    Group
  • Installing and Maintaining Software

    The following sections contain information on security-relevant choices during the initial operating system installation process and the setup of s...
    Group
  • System and Software Integrity

    System and software integrity can be gained by installing antivirus, increasing system encryption strength with FIPS, verifying installed software,...
    Group
  • Software Integrity Checking

    Both the AIDE (Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment) software and the RPM package management system provide mechanisms for verifying the integr...
    Group
  • Verify Integrity with RPM

    The RPM package management system includes the ability to verify the integrity of installed packages by comparing the installed files with informat...
    Group
  • Verify File Hashes with RPM

    Without cryptographic integrity protections, system executables and files can be altered by unauthorized users without detection. The RPM package m...
    Rule High Severity
  • Verify and Correct Ownership with RPM

    The RPM package management system can check file ownership permissions of installed software packages, including many that are important to system ...
    Rule High Severity
  • Verify and Correct File Permissions with RPM

    The RPM package management system can check file access permissions of installed software packages, including many that are important to system sec...
    Rule High Severity
  • System Cryptographic Policies

    Linux has the capability to centrally configure cryptographic polices. The command <code>update-crypto-policies</code> is used to set the policy ap...
    Group
  • Configure System Cryptography Policy

    To configure the system cryptography policy to use ciphers only from the <code><xccdf-1.2:sub idref="xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_value_var_system_...
    Rule High Severity
  • Configure SSH to use System Crypto Policy

    Crypto Policies provide a centralized control over crypto algorithms usage of many packages. SSH is supported by crypto policy, but the SSH configu...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Sudo

    <code>Sudo</code>, which stands for "su 'do'", provides the ability to delegate authority to certain users, groups of users, or system administrato...
    Group
  • Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo !authenticate

    The sudo <code>!authenticate</code> option, when specified, allows a user to execute commands using sudo without having to authenticate. This shoul...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo NOPASSWD

    The sudo <code>NOPASSWD</code> tag, when specified, allows a user to execute commands using sudo without having to authenticate. This should be dis...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure Users Re-Authenticate for Privilege Escalation - sudo

    The sudo <code>NOPASSWD</code> and <code>!authenticate</code> option, when specified, allows a user to execute commands using sudo without having t...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • System Tooling / Utilities

    The following checks evaluate the system for recommended base packages -- both for installation and removal.
    Group
  • Install rear Package

    The rear package can be installed with the following command:
    $ sudo yum install rear
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Updating Software

    The <code>yum</code> command line tool is used to install and update software packages. The system also provides a graphical software update tool i...
    Group
  • Configure dnf-automatic to Install Only Security Updates

    To configure <code>dnf-automatic</code> to install only security updates automatically, set <code>upgrade_type</code> to <code>security</code> unde...
    Rule Low Severity
  • Ensure gpgcheck Enabled In Main yum Configuration

    The <code>gpgcheck</code> option controls whether RPM packages' signatures are always checked prior to installation. To configure yum to check pack...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure gpgcheck Enabled for Local Packages

    <code>yum</code> should be configured to verify the signature(s) of local packages prior to installation. To configure <code>yum</code> to verify s...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure gpgcheck Enabled for All yum Package Repositories

    To ensure signature checking is not disabled for any repos, remove any lines from files in <code>/etc/yum.repos.d</code> of the form: <pre>gpgcheck...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure Red Hat GPG Key Installed

    To ensure the system can cryptographically verify base software packages come from Red Hat (and to connect to the Red Hat Network to receive them),...
    Rule High Severity
  • Ensure Software Patches Installed

    If the system is joined to the Red Hat Network, a Red Hat Satellite Server, or a yum server, run the following command to install updates: <pre>$ ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Account and Access Control

    In traditional Unix security, if an attacker gains shell access to a certain login account, they can perform any action or access any file to which...
    Group
  • Enable authselect

    Configure user authentication setup to use the <code>authselect</code> tool. If authselect profile is selected, the rule will enable the <xccdf-1.2...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Protect Accounts by Restricting Password-Based Login

    Conventionally, Unix shell accounts are accessed by providing a username and password to a login program, which tests these values for correctness ...
    Group
  • Verify Proper Storage and Existence of Password Hashes

    By default, password hashes for local accounts are stored in the second field (colon-separated) in <code>/etc/shadow</code>. This file should be re...
    Group
  • Prevent Login to Accounts With Empty Password

    If an account is configured for password authentication but does not have an assigned password, it may be possible to log into the account without ...
    Rule High Severity
  • Restrict Root Logins

    Direct root logins should be allowed only for emergency use. In normal situations, the administrator should access the system via a unique unprivil...
    Group
  • Verify Only Root Has UID 0

    If any account other than root has a UID of 0, this misconfiguration should be investigated and the accounts other than root should be removed or h...
    Rule High Severity
  • System Accounting with auditd

    The audit service provides substantial capabilities for recording system activities. By default, the service audits about SELinux AVC denials and c...
    Group
  • Enable auditd Service

    The <code>auditd</code> service is an essential userspace component of the Linux Auditing System, as it is responsible for writing audit records to...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Configure auditd Rules for Comprehensive Auditing

    The <code>auditd</code> program can perform comprehensive monitoring of system activity. This section describes recommended configuration settings ...
    Group
  • Record Events that Modify the System's Network Environment

    If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default),...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Ensure auditd Collects System Administrator Actions

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect administrator actions for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use ...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Events that Modify User/Group Information

    If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenrules</code> program to read audit rules during daemon startup (the default),...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Events that Modify the System's Discretionary Access Controls

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect file permission changes for all users and root. Note that the "-F arch=b32" lines should be present e...
    Group
  • Record Events that Modify the System's Discretionary Access Controls - chmod

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect file permission changes for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to us...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Events that Modify the System's Discretionary Access Controls - chown

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect file permission changes for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to us...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Execution Attempts to Run SELinux Privileged Commands

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect the execution of SELinux privileged commands for all users and root.
    Group
  • Record Any Attempts to Run chcon

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the <code>chcon</code> command for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Any Attempts to Run restorecon

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the <code>restorecon</code> command for all users and root. If the <code>aud...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Any Attempts to Run semanage

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the <code>semanage</code> command for all users and root. If the <code>audit...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Any Attempts to Run setfiles

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the <code>setfiles</code> command for all users and root. If the <code>audit...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Any Attempts to Run setsebool

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the <code>setsebool</code> command for all users and root. If the <code>audi...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Any Attempts to Run seunshare

    At a minimum, the audit system should collect any execution attempt of the <code>seunshare</code> command for all users and root. If the <code>audi...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Information on Kernel Modules Loading and Unloading

    To capture kernel module loading and unloading events, use following lines, setting ARCH to either b32 for 32-bit system, or having two lines for b...
    Group
  • Ensure auditd Collects Information on Kernel Module Loading and Unloading

    To capture kernel module loading and unloading events, use following lines, setting ARCH to either b32 for 32-bit system, or having two lines for b...
    Rule Medium Severity
  • Record Attempts to Alter Logon and Logout Events

    The audit system already collects login information for all users and root. If the <code>auditd</code> daemon is configured to use the <code>augenr...
    Group

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